PART 6
"The Farmhouse"
The drive felt endless.
Six police vehicles raced through the empty countryside with their lights flashing across the dark highway.
Daniel sat in the front passenger seat, gripping the folded note Patricia had slipped into his pocket.
He hadn't opened it yet.
He was afraid.
Afraid it might be the last thing his son had ever written.
The detective glanced at him.
"Read it."
Daniel unfolded the paper with trembling hands.
The handwriting was uneven, but unmistakable.
It was Leo's.
Dad, if Aunt Patricia finally tells you the truth, don't be mad at her. She cried every time she left. She kept saying she'd come back for me. She never stopped trying.
Daniel closed his eyes.
The guilt hit him all at once.
For ten months...
He had blamed the one person who had been risking everything to keep his son alive.
The convoy turned onto a narrow dirt road.
Half a mile ahead, an old farmhouse stood alone beneath a line of dead trees.
No lights.
No movement.
The detective raised a fist.
"Everybody out."
Officers quietly surrounded the property.
Two disappeared around the back.
Another team moved toward the barn.
Daniel could barely breathe.
"Please..."
He whispered to no one.
"Let him be alive."
The front door was unlocked.
The officers entered first.
"Clear!"
The kitchen was empty.
"Clear!"
The living room was covered in dust.
"Clear!"
The bedrooms...
Empty.
Daniel's hope collapsed.
"We're too late."
Then—
A voice crackled through a police radio.
"I found a basement."
Everyone ran.
The wooden cellar doors behind the house were chained shut from the outside.
An officer cut the chain with bolt cutters.
The doors creaked open.
Cold air rushed out.
Daniel heard it before he saw anything.
A cough.
Weak.
Small.
"Dad...?"
Daniel's heart stopped.
"Leo!"
He rushed down the narrow steps.
At the far end of the dim basement sat a thin little boy wrapped in a blanket.
His hair was longer.
His face was pale.
But his eyes...
Daniel would have known those eyes anywhere.
"Leo!"
The boy stood on shaky legs.
"Dad..."
Daniel reached him in two strides and pulled him into the tightest embrace of his life.
"I've got you."
"I'm here."
"I'm never letting you go again."
Leo buried his face against his father's shoulder and sobbed.
Upstairs, Mariana heard her son's voice.
She ran into the basement.
For a moment she simply stared.
Then she dropped to her knees beside them.
"My baby..."
She held Leo's face in both hands as tears streamed down hers.
"I thought I'd never see you again."
Leo smiled through exhausted tears.
"I knew you'd come."
Even the detectives looked away to hide their emotions.
Then one of the officers shouted from outside.
"Detective!"
"We've got footprints heading into the woods!"
The detective turned immediately.
"He's running."
Daniel looked up.
"Víctor?"
The detective nodded.
"He can't be far."
Daniel started after them.
The detective grabbed his arm.
"No."
"I have to."
"You have your son back."
"We'll get the man who took him."
Daniel looked at Leo.
The little boy refused to let go of his father's hand.
Daniel slowly nodded.
"Bring him in."
The search lasted less than twenty minutes.
A police dog picked up the scent near a creek behind the farmhouse.
Víctor Salas was found hiding beneath a fallen tree, covered in mud and clutching a backpack filled with cash, fake IDs, and passports.
He didn't resist.
As officers placed him in handcuffs, he looked toward the farmhouse and smiled.
"You still don't know everything."
The detective frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Víctor laughed.
"Ask the boy..."
"...why I kept him alive."
The smile disappeared from Daniel's face.
He turned toward Leo.
His son was staring at the ground.
May you like
Terrified.
As if there was still one secret he had never told anyone.
